For example, when prosecutor Jim Hardin is presenting his case to the grand jury ahead of the trial, Rudolf is seen standing in the same grand jury room, something that he said would never happen in a U.S. courtroom. Elizabeth Ratliff, a 43-year-old widow who taught second grade at a U.S. Department of Defense School, was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs on November 25, 1985. (We'll get back to that.). The medical examiner rules that the cause of death was blunt force trauma. Elizabeth Ratliff, a 43-year-old widow who taught second grade at a U.S. Department of Defense School, was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs on November 25, 1985. He also said thatthe person wearing apair of bloody shorts and bloody sneakers--both belonging to Michael Peterson--had to be present in the stairwell or just outside when Kathleen Peterson's head or a pool of her blood were hit with great force. The author's ex-wife, Patty, maintains that their relationship was platonic and that her ex-husband is innocent. If you've reached episode three of Netflix's latest true crime addition, The Staircase, you'll have discovered one of many plot twists in the documentary series. It is unknown if their disagreement happened in real life. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Michael Peterson and his wife Kathleen were first married in 1997. That was then confirmed by another doctor and the military police. Did Michael Peterson Kill Elizabeth Ratliff? "Her injuries are indicative of multiple blunt force impacts". Three, she never wrote to Michael while she was working on the project, never ever, ever. Elizabeth had been complaining of severe headaches in the weeks before her death, and it was believed she suffered the haemorrhage while on the staircase, causing her to fall. Although I do feel that the police did not act in all honesty with some of their actions, I do feel that no matter what, the jury saw through the shoddy case and found him guilty anyway. defense lawyer Thomas Maher asked. So why would you? However, things changed once her embalmed body was exhumed nearly two decades later, in April 2003. The defense countered these claims, arguing that half of Elizabeth's brain was missing during the new autopsy and pushing against the idea that Michael was the last person to see her alive. The Staircase addresses both of those theories, and just like the documentary of the same name by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade on which the show is based, whether you believe Michael Peterson is a killer is your own decision to make. Michael's adopted daughters also believe that he did not kill their biological mother. However as Kathleen was not having any of it, I believe she decided to storm out and go to a relatives house or even a hotel, just to get out as some people do in the onset of a huge argument-just need to get out even to go for a drive. Todd, who used to be the responsible son, now seems to be falling apart as Clay, who used to be the irresponsible one, has fallen into the role of caretaker. OR after heaving her down the stairs to make sure she indeed was dead, struck her again a few times with the same item as at the front door-he may not even have had to hit her fast, he could do it more slowly which would not end up leaving castoff on the ceiling, which was an issue at the trial-if he had struck her surely there would be castoff on the ceiling, but they were figuring on it being done in a fast frenzy-he then changed clothing and got rid of the clothing and the item he struck her with. (We dont know if this is factual or just a dramatized coincidence.) At least, until tragedy struck. Like Peterson, Ratliff was found at the bottom of her stairs with injuries to her head. ", Speaking separately to Vanity Fair about the scenes in the fifth episode of HBO Max's The Staircase, Lestrade said: "We gave [Campos] all the access he wanted, and I really trusted the man. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. With The Staircase retelling the tale of Michael Peterson and his alleged hand in wife Kathleen Petersons bizarre December 2001 demise, several related matters are coming back into the spotlight. His analysis of the crime scene suggested that most of the blood splatter on the . Investigators exhumed her grave in Bay City, Texas. Elizabeth Ratliff's children Margaret (Ratliff) Blakemore and Martha Ratliff. "First of all, Sophie didn't edit any of the courtroom scenes. To begin with, he said that the scene where he was introduced to Michael Peterson (played by Colin Firth) in a diner while eating pastrami did not happen in real life. When he separated from his wife, he brought his sons and the Ratliff children to the United States. The 43-year-old died in 1985 in Germany, found at the bottom of her stairs by her children's nanny Barbara Malagnino. Michael struggles with life outside of prison and sees his children are struggling as well. believed to have been the last person to see her alive, carried out a second autopsy on Elizabeth Ratliff's body. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. That's number one. On the prosecution side, Durham County District Attorney Jim Hardin (Cullen Moss) and Assistant District Attorney, Freda Black (Parker Posey) take on the case. Peterson and friends maintained that their friendship was purely platonic. But if he lied about something that big what else did he lie about? While looking for something in the study or den, Kathleen either stumbled upon the emails exposing Michaels bisexual desires either on the computer or possibly a hard copy of something. Ultimately, Michael decides not to move to Paris in order to start a new life elsewhere with Sophie, and their relationship ends. Im also sure as he is a master storyteller, that he convinced himself the story he told was the truth and his mind believed it, thus giving his consciousness the ability to feel he was innocent and then able to act the part of the victim as well. And you can quote me on that. It's all in the documentary, it's there. Michael moved back to the United States, taking his adopted daughters with him, and met Kathleen Peterson in 1986. A quick recap for those who arent familiar with the case: He wasconvicted of first-degree murder in 2003 and spent nearly a decade behind bars. However, he maintains adamantly that Kathleens death was an accident. A retrial is granted, and Michael is released from prison and sentenced to house arrest with an ankle bracelet. "There was no pool of blood.". host = host.toLowerCase(); In her report, Dr. Deborah L. Radisch concluded that Elizabeth Ratliff's injuries were "inconsistent with a fall down a set of stairs.". Please select the topics you're interested in: Would you like to turn on POPSUGAR desktop notifications to get breaking news ASAP? The nanny who found Elizabeth Ratliff's body in 1985 also took to the stand at Michael Peterson's murder trial and testified to witnesses about a large amount of blood at the scene. document.write('Tuesday, August 19, 2003 Posted: 1440 GMT
<\/span>'); The Netflix series, originally a documentary produced by a French company, examines his original trial. Michael and Patty had two sons while living over in Germany - Clayton and Todd - while Elizabeth and George had two daughters, Margaret and Martha. "So to create the impression that somehow I'm this greedy lawyer, who's forcing my client to sell his furniture in order to write me checks to do his appealI mean that is sort of offensive to me. However, things changed once her embalmed body was exhumed nearly two decades later, in April 2003. I do not think that the girls could mentally handle it if they allowed their minds to go to the place of believing he did it. Prosecutors say the similarities are too many to be coincidental. Upon examination, forensic pathologist Deborah Radisch, who also worked on Kathleen's case, said that Elizabeth's injuries were inconsistent with an accident. Todd, who has always been the responsible one, starts to unravel under the pressure of the trial. two adorable daughters into their lives Margaret and Martha Ratliff. On November 25, 1985, Elizbeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of her staircase, in an eerily similar way to the way Michael Peterson's wife, Kathleen Peterson was found on December 1, 2001. They fought and it turned physical. With The Staircase's true-crime drama available to watch on HBO Max now and the original The Staircase documentary streaming on Netflix, it is ultimately up to viewers to form their own opinion on what they believe happened on the evening Kathleen Peterson died. , Awesome, Youre All Set! Jennifer McHugh is a Los Angeles-based writer. She'd reportedly died from an intracerebral hemorrhage, secondary to a blood clot disorder. And as far as the girls, Margaret and Martha, Michael was the only parent they had been around the longest, they knew of their birth mothers death but couldnt associate with it as they were so young when it happened. However, in reality, Rudolf stated he traveled to Germany to investigate what happened to Ratliff and knew about her death a year and a half before the trial. German investigators ruled Ratliff had died due to a cerebral hemorrhage. "Prosecutors spent thousands of dollars transporting her boy 12,000 miles from Bay City, Texas to Chapel Hill," Defense AttorneyDavid Rudolf said on "The Staircase." Occasionally wiping tears from her eyes, Appel-Schumacher testified about the large amount of blood she and her husband cleaned up after Ratliff's body was moved. The 43-year-old died in 1985 in Germany, found at the bottom of her stairs by her children's nanny Barbara Malagnino. Appel-Schumacher said the blood was mostly on a wall adjacent to the staircase and it stretched from the top landing to the bottom. But . Michael Peterson is believed to have been the last person to see her alive. Now as both Elizabeth and her husband were both deceased, the girls Margaret and Martha would surely be left in the care of one of their relatives? She was not close to her sisters, Appel-Schumacher said on cross-examination, and thought it would be good for the girls to live with the Petersons in Europe if anything ever happened to her. document.write('Tuesday, August 19, 2003 Posted: 10:40 PM HKT (1440 GMT)
<\/span>'); Michael, a Vietnam War vet, bonded with Elizabeth's husband George, who was a captain in the military. The Innocence Project gets involved and approaches Freda Black, now working at a dry cleaner, for information. Like Peterson, Ratliff was found at the bottom of her stairs with injuries to her head. The similar nature of Elizabeth's and Kathleen's deaths was enough to leave the jury serving on Michael's trial in Durham significantly suspicious. Rudolf first took issue with some of the smaller details in the series. Elizabeth's Ratliff's sudden death in November 1985 became of great significance in the case against Michael Peterson during his trial for the murder of his second wife, Kathleen Peterson. != -1 ) { The widow grew even closer with the Peterson family. The deceased's injuries were "inconsistent with a fall down a set of stairs", state pathologist wrote in her report. Cat is Cosmopolitan UK's features editor covering women's issues, health and current affairs. All external sites will open in a new browser. A medical examiner who examined her body at the scene concurred that the death was probably an accident. So you know, the bottom line of all of that, is it creates this impression that this Academy Award-winning director, a documentarian was twisting his film for a completely unethical purpose to help the subject. Three episodes in, drops a major bombshell: Peterson was the last person to see another woman who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in Germany in 1985. He was granted a new trial in 2011, which was scheduled to begin in May 2017. Elizabeth's death is a tragedy, but whether it was brought upon by an ill-fated accident or contemptuous murder, we'll never know. Around that same time, Elizabeth and George grew close to the Petersons, their neighbors, bonding over Michael being a Vietnam War veteran and his then-wife Patricia being her coworker. An autopsy at the time of her death concluded Ratliff died from an intra-cerebral haemorrhage secondary to the blood coagulation disorder Von Willebrand's disease, based on blood in her cerebrospinal fluid and reports that she had been suffering severe, persistent headaches in the weeks leading up to her death. "There was nothing out of place, except that she was no longer living," she recalled almost two decades later. Here's the OTHER Death at the Center of Netflix's The Staircase. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Firth portrayed Peterson for eight episodes of the HBO Max drama based on the documentary of the same name. So Im sure there is some emotion heard in the 911 call, Im sure he did love Kathleen and Elizabeth. Additionally, he was unimpressed with some of the early court scenes. Ratliff, a close Peterson friend,wasthought to have died from a fall down a set of stairs until Peterson's wife Kathleen died in a similar manner in December 2001. Radisch's reported concluded that Elizabeth Ratliff's death had actually been as a result of a "homicidal assault", and not an accident as was previously determined. She was found by her children's nanny, Barbara Malagnino, who sought help from Patty shortly after making the grim discovery. Both Peterson and his wife raised his two daughters, Margaret and Martha,as if they were their own. Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. for those who arent familiar with the case: He wasconvicted of first-degree murder in 2003 and spent nearly a decade behind bars. Instead, they used her death as an example of an incident that could have helped him "fake" Kathleen's accident. After her passing, Michael adopted Elizabeth's two daughters, Martha and Margaret. After Vietnam, retired Marine Captain Michael joined Patty in Germany and the couple quickly became good friends with Elizabeth Ratliff and her husband George, also a Captain in the military. Great, Click the Allow Button Above Despite the evidence submitted during the trial, Elizabeth Ratliff's daughters, Margaret and Martha - who had been brought up by Michael and Kathleen - stood by their adoptive father and continued to protest his innocence. Peterson lived next door to Ratliff when she died. But the autopsies were enough to convince Kathleen Peterson's daughter Caitlin to change her mind about her stepfather. "Once the trial started, they hired [film editor] Scott Stevenson to edit the trial footage. At the time, her death was investigated by the U.S. military police in Germany and an autopsy concluded she had died from an intracerebral hemorrhage. The Staircase will be your new fav true crime show, The legal age you can get married has just changed, Charles & Camilla break major royal tradition, Courteney Cox speaks on Harry magic mushroom claim, Harry 'adding at least one more chapter' to memoir, Dylan responds to being misgendered on Instagram. Michael Stuhlbarg portrayed Peterson's lawyer David Rudolf in the series. Their blended family included Michaels two sons from his first marriage, Clayton Peterson (Dane DeHaan) and Todd Peterson (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Kathleens daughter from her first marriage, Caitlin Atwater (Olivia DeJonge), and Michael's two adopted daughters, Margaret Ratliff (Sophie Turner) and Martha Ratliff (Odessa Young). "What's the fucking grounds?" Earlier Monday,jurors heard testimony froma blood spatter expertwho examined blood stains in the stairwell where Kathleen Peterson died. It's believed that Michael was the last person to see . I can't live in Paris. The Staircase is the latest true-crime drama to land on HBO Max and viewers are still trying to process the jaw-dropping story of Michael Peterson who, in 2003, was found guilty of killing his wife Kathleen Peterson at their home on December 9, 2001. The Scene of Her Death. The neighbour, Karin Hamn, testified that she saw MP hurrying away from ER's house at 12.50 am on November 25th. The real-life Rudolph is seen above. He has since insisted she was completely okay when he walked out the door, yet the following morning, the girls nanny found her dead at the bottom of the stairs Elizabeth passed away on November 25, 1985. "They have a scene where Michael's brother is on the phone with me, telling me that he's selling all the furniture, to pay to write me checks for the appeal. All Rights Reserved. I believe they had been around Michael long enough to possibly take on his ability of telling stories, the more they told themselves he did not do it or that he could not have done it, the more they believed it. Peterson subsequently ended up raising Ratliff's young. 15 hours ago, by Chandler Plante Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Ratliff taught second grade at a U.S. Department of Defense School. As both their families grew, so did the bonds between them. Upon examination, forensic pathologist Deborah Radisch, who also worked on Kathleen's case, said that Elizabeth's injuries were inconsistent with an accident. Peterson was the. In 2017, he entered an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter, meaning he admitted the evidence against him would likely lead to a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt but he did not have to admit he committed the crime. In the documentary, Michael remembers he and his then-wife, Patricia, had dinner at the Ratliff home and he stayed behind to help Elizabeth put Martha and Margaret to. 17 hours ago, by Monica Sisavat Since her husband's death, Peterson would come over to visit her every evening after dinner, according to "The Staircase." The author's ex-wife Patty maintains that their relationship was platonic and that her ex-husband is innocent. The night before Elizabeth's death, Michael Peterson and his wife had dinner with Elizabeth and her two young daughters. }else { She was very happy while planning a party she threw for Appel-Schumacher and her new husband two nights before she died, the witness recalled. Although the 13-part programme centres around the mysterious death of Kathleen Peterson at her home in Durham, North Carolina, she wasn't the only woman linked to Michael Peterson to have been found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Michael is convinced that the DA is on a witch hunt since Michael had written critical columns on the DA in the past. Elizabeth's updated autopsy report indicated that she died from homicidal assault. The defense would go on to use Elizabeth Ratliff's death as part of their case against Michael Peterson, which also led to tensions within his own family, particularly between his adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret Ratliff. I believe that the 2 were out by the pool having a glass or 2 of wine as they often did. In the first three episodes of The Staircase on HBO Max, there have been subtle mentions of a woman named Elizabeth Ratliff, and in Episode 4, audiences learn a little bit more about her. "I was sitting here directly observing when the German medical examiner took the spinal tap and held the contents up so that he could view [it]," said Patty. Elizabeth Ratliff's daughters continue to believe Mike Peterson. "I don't know that you could possibly make a more serious and damaging claim against a documentarian than that, especially when it's completely and utterly false and demonstrably false. In 2017, Michael is contemplating taking the Alford plea, in which he would have to plead guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter for a reduced sentence, but he could not be retried. Elizabeth Ratliff and. We didn't get paid anything for the appeal. 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